World on Fire
by EmeraldRain25
Summary: Something strange has been happening in Japan; countless kids are disappearing and to make matters worse, no one seems to be able to do anything about it. When Ryoma finds himself stuck in a dangerous situation, he is suddenly rescued by 7 mysterious strangers. He soon realises he's caught up in something more elaborate then he could have ever imagined.


Please don't lecture me on starting another story. To be honest I just wrote this because I couldn't concentrate on anything else until I did. Don't expect to see another chapter before I finish a few more of my other stories.

**Warning:** AU; alternate universe kind of.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Prince of Tennis.

Chapter 1

_Taken_

* * *

_1 Month Ago_

_Unknown location_

_11:05 pm_

* * *

_'A single spark will ignite the world, tearing apart all boundaries. Finding friends in enemies and enemies in friends. The spark will ignite the world, bringing with it fear and chaos, love and hope. '_

Jirou woke with a start, sweat running down his face. His breath came out in short, rough pants. Without missing a beat, he forced himself to his feet, swaying slightly before regaining his balance.

His trembling fingers grasped the doorknob, turning it until it opened with a soft click. Stumbling into the musky, dark hallway he quickened his pace until he was standing infront of a polished, burgundy red door. The door itself looked extremely out-of-place in the damp, brick hall.

Four pairs of eyes looked up at him in surprise as he stumbled into the room, panting heavily. The squeak of chairs being pushed over echoed through the room, as the occupants hastily jumped to their feet.

"Atobe, we have a problem." Jirou explained.

* * *

_3 Weeks Ago_

_Burger Joint near Teiko High School_

_8:00 pm_

* * *

Laughter and cheers echoed throughout the burger joint. The entire place was empty except for 8 occupants in the corner of the store. All eight occupants were young, no older than 17. Huge smiles stretched across their faces.

"Did you see how awesome I played?" Marui bragged, causing everyone else to roll their eyes.

"Whatever you say," Shishido muttered, clearly not amused by his teammates attitude.

"How long does it take to cook a couple of burgers?" Momo whined, laying his head on the table.

"A couple? Between you, Echizen, Kirihara and Marui-Senpai, not counting the rest of us, who only ordered one. That's at least 12 burgers," Yuuta exclaimed and Hiyoshi nodded in agreement.

"It's not like we're here for no reason," Choutarou said, glancing around at his teammates.

"Yeah, we did win Regionals after all!" Akaya shouted, causing the store employees to cast another glare their way.

"Che, Mada mada dane, Kirihara-senpai," Ryoma murmured, rolling his eyes

"What'd you say brat?" Akaya growled, glaring at Ryoma.

"Want me to assign you laps tomorrow?" Ryoma threatened, smirk stretching across his face.

Akaya gave one last growl of frustration, before settling back down in his seat. "Remind me again, who decided to make this cocky freshman captain?"

"I believe that was you," Ryoma reminded Akaya.

It was true that their tennis team was a rather unusual one, with half the regulars consisting of second years, a freshman as their captain, and only two third years on their team, but they had successfully made it to the Nationals, which would start in about a month.

They were all distracted from their arguing as their food was finally brought to the table. With one last cheer they dug hastily into their burgers.

The rest of the evening went by without much incident, then finally, at around 11:00 o'clock, they decided to head home. Marui had already left with Akaya. Hiyoshi, Choutarou and Shishido left together and Momo had left on his bike, This left Ryoma and Yuuta, both of whom now stood outside the burger joint.

"Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" Yuuta insisted for the millionth time that evening.

"For the last time Senpai, I'm 15 not 5. I can walk by myself. I only live a few blocks from here anyway," Ryoma muttered irritably.

"If your sure..." Yuuta trailed off, glancing nervously at the freshman.

"I am," Ryoma resisted the urge to smack his friend upside the head.

Yuuta nodded in understanding. He began to jog off, but stopped himself, turning back to Ryoma. "Just be careful," He warned.

"I will," Ryoma promised. "See you tomorrow at practice,"

Ryoma waited until Yuuta had rounded the corner before heading home. Even though his Senpai had been acting way overprotective, it's not like Ryoma could really blame him. For the past six months kids of every age had been going missing, to make matters worse, it seemed like the Government had yet to take action; still not convinced that the kids were being kidnapped.

Ryoma rolled his eyes. What did they think was going on? Did they honestly believe that countless kids had all decided to just runaway? Not to mention, if the kids had run away, wouldn't someone have found them by now?

Not only that, but apparently Yuuta's older brother had went missing five years ago, and was never found. The cops had apparently stopped looking when they found no traces of where the kid had went. Of course, Yuuta had never stopped looking.

Ryoma had never met Yuuta's brother, having only moved to Japan 3 years ago, but judging from what Yuuta had told Ryoma about him, he sounded like a pretty good person.

A loud noise broke Ryoma out of his thoughts, causing him to pause and look around. A second later a cat streaked out of the bushes from across the street, and Ryoma let out a breath of relief, he hadn't even realised he'd been holding.

That relief was short-lived though, as someone grabbed him from behind, placing a cloth over his mouth. Ryoma held his breath, kicking, punching and trying everything in his power to get out of the man's iron clad grip. Unable to hold his breath any longer, he sucked in a breath of fresh air, but was only met with the substance of the cloth. His vision swam and his limbs fell limply by his side, before the world around him went black.

* * *

_Present Day_

_Abandoned Laboratory_

_12:00 am/ Midnight_

* * *

The night air was crisp, the moon hidden behind countless clouds. A slight breeze blew through the trees surrounding the abandoned laboratory. Or at least, it was supposed to be abandoned. The bright white lights streaming through the windows, adding to the fact that large guard dogs could be seen roaming the inside of the fences, suggested otherwise.

"Abandoned, huh?" Fuji shook his head. How had no one noticed the building was still being used? Surely, some civilian passerby must have seen the lights on. He shook his head and focused his attention on Tezuka.

"Everyone knows the plan?" Tezuka whispered, eyes narrowed. "Eiji will teleport us inside the building. Once inside, Inui and I will head to the control room, where we will shut down the security. Once that's done, Oishi, Taka and Kaidoh will begin to gather all the kids to where Eiji will be waiting to teleport them out. Well this is happening, Fuji you will create the illusion of the kids asleep in their rooms so no one suspects anything."

Everyone nodded in understanding. Each of them placed a hand on either of Eiji's arm. A second later a loud crack echoed through the air and they were gone.

* * *

_Present Day_

_Abandoned Laboratory_

_12:10 am_

* * *

Tezuka and Inui entered the control room, dragging in two unconscious guards, before shutting the door.

Inui instantly went to work at the computers. Before he even touched the controls for security, he brought up the list of 'patients' and let his eyes scan each name.

Tezuka stood guard at the door, occasionally glancing back at Inui, to make sure everything was going smoothly.

Once Inui was done scanning a total of 15 patients, he opened up the control panel for the building's security. He shut down all the security camera's, before turning off all security in general.

"Done," He stood up turning to Tezuka, who stepped forward and placed both his hands on the controls. A second later a jolt of electricity ran through the controls, effectively frying everything.

Tezuka grasped the walkie-talkie in his hand. "Mission accomplished. Oishi, Kaidoh, and Taka you can now begin to gather all the children."

"Roger that," Oishi's voice floated through the walkie-talkie.

Tezuka turned to Inui and together they fled the room, heading towards where they would meet Eiji.

* * *

_Present Day_

_Abandoned Laboratory_

_12:25 am_

* * *

Ryoma woke with a start, sweat dripping down his face. He shook his head from side to side before falling back against his pillow. Ever since he had been brought to this place, each night he was racked with nightmare after nightmare.

"I wonder how long I've been here?" He whispered to himself. It was impossible to keep track of time in this place. There were no calendars, no clocks. All they knew was day and night; night obviously being the time they were brought to bed and day being when they were woken up and brought to the cafeteria for breakfast, if you could even call the gruel they served breakfast.

Ryoma stared up at the bare white roof of his room. How he had come to hate the colour white. Everything in the place was white: the walls, the floors, the tables, the doctor's lab coats, even the _silver _wear was white. The only thing that wasn't white were the black slacks and t-shirts they were forced to wear. Black being the only colour distinguishing the patients from the lab crew.

Sitting up in his bed, he head over to the door. After all, he doubted he would be able to fall asleep again, or at least not anytime soon. Glancing through the small, bulletproof window on his door, he could see a guard doing one of his routinely checks down at the other end of the hallway, before disappearing around the corner.

Ryoma let out a sigh of relief -the guards never tolerated anyone being up past curfew- and leant his back against the door. A surprised gasp escaped his lips as the door suddenly opened and he fell to the floor.

His eyes widened with surprise as he leaped to his feet. Somehow, he had a feeling like that wasn't supposed to happen.

_'What should I do?' _He thought, still having a hard time grasping the fact that he was free.

_Free!_

The word echoed around his head.

_I'm free!_

Realisation finally seemed to hit him and he did the first thing his instincts told him to.

He ran.

* * *

_Present Day_

_Abandoned Laboratory_

_12:30 am_

* * *

Fuji, who was wandering around the barren, white hallways, paused his trek throughout the building. Rushed footsteps could be heard, gradually getting closer. His heart leaped out of his chest and he pressed himself into a small crevice in the wall.

Had something gone wrong? Had they been caught? Maybe Tezuka and Inui had failed in the security room?

He pushed those thoughts out of his head and concentrated on keeping up the mirage in the patient's corridors. As the footsteps gradually got closer, Fuji forced himself to hold his breath, careful not to give away his hiding spot.

Eventually the footsteps were so loud, Fuji could tell the person was close, very close, and turned his head to peer out of his hiding spot. His eyes widened in shock, as the person, no the kid, shot past, adorned in all black.

Fuji stood frozen, debating on his plan of action. The kid was obviously one of the 'patients' here. What he was doing wandering around the hallways, Fuji had no clue. All he knew was that the kid would eventually be caught, no doubt giving away their presence.

So with one last sigh, he took off after the kid. He had to hand it to the kid, he was pretty fast. The kid, seemingly sensing that he was being followed, quickened his pace and took a sharp turn into a hallway.

Fuji bolted forward as shouts were emitted from where the kid had disappeared. Rounding the corner, he could see he kid in one of the guards grip, struggling to break free. Without even thinking, Fuji shot forward, gun in hand. The guard didn't even have time to blink before he was lying dead on the ground.

Fuji straightened up and stared at the kid who had been dropped to the ground. The kid only stared right back at him, eyes narrowed, yet curious, hands in a defensive position, yet somewhat trusting.

A loud shout caused both of them to spin around. At the end of the hallway, stood what looked like a doctor. The doctor was trembling, eyes wide as he stared at the unconscious guard on the ground. Before Fuji had time to do anything, the doctor disappeared around the corner, a second later the sound of an alarm sounded throughout the entire building.

Fuji looked down at the kid who had yet to move an inch. He grabbed the kids hand, yanking him to his feet, before bolting down the hallway, leading the kid with him. Suddenly the kid yanked his hand out of Fuji's grip, stopping mid stride.

Fuji turned around, eyes wide. "What are you doing?" He growled, not in the mood to deal with a rebellious kid.

"Finding my own way out," The kid explained bluntly, about to turn around.

Fuji sighed. He did not have time for this. He took a step forward, delivering a light blow to the back of the kid's neck, just hard enough to knock him unconscious. He then placed the kid piggy back style on his back and headed full speed towards their rendezvous point, hoping to God everyone else was alright.

* * *

_Present Day_

_Abandoned Laboratory_

_12: 43 am_

* * *

Tezuka paced in circles around the cramped hallway. Beside him sat Eiji, who was nervously glancing around. Everyone was already outside the fences. The only person they were waiting on was Fuji.

To make matters worse, the alarm that now rang throughout the building only strengthened Tezuka's thoughts that something bad had happened to his friend. Just as he was about to snap though, Fuji rounded the corner, running towards them. On his back, was an unconscious kid.

Tezuka raised an eyebrow, but Fuji only sent him one of those looks that clearly said, _'I'll explain later'._

Nodding in understanding, Tezuka placed his hand on Eiji's arm, Fuji doing the same.

For the second time that night, a large crack echoed throughout the air and they were gone.

* * *

A/N

More will be explained in future chapters ;)

Any questions please pm me. I know this chapter was probably pretty confusing and vague, don't worry though. All will be explained in do time.

Please review.


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